In a number of automotive vehicle window assemblies, a transparent substrate is employed that includes a darkened or opaque peripheral band, and specifically an inorganic frit along one or more of its edges. The band is typically formed by applying a ceramic enamel to a glass substrate and then firing the coated glass to achieve a tenacious bond between the ceramic enamel and the glass. The need to fire such ceramic enamels essentially requires that glass be employed to withstand the firing conditions. Unfortunately, following firing, resulting defects tends to result in scrap of the coated glass substrate.
When properly prepared, glass substrates are installed into an opening in an automotive vehicle structure by applying one or more layers of primer to the glass substrate, over the layer of fired ceramic enamel, applying an adhesive between the primer and the vehicle structure, and locating the glass substrate within the opening.
One approach to simplification of window assembly has been proposed in co-pending application Ser. No. 11/472,119 filed Jun. 20, 2006 (priority to 60/692,318 filed Jun. 20, 2005), now U.S. Pat. No. 7,781,493 by Baikerikar et al. (incorporated by reference), also published as WO/2007/002328. Notwithstanding the benefits of the technology disclosed therein, it is contemplated that future applications will continue to justify additional attractive bonding systems.